Five Times Steve Didn't Visit Brubaker's Bakery and One Time He Did
by dormammu
Summary: Based on Avengers Assemble 3x02 episode - The Ultimates. In Avengers: EMH category because I couldn't find the AA one. The evening Ultron's copy of him attacked Steve was not the first time Steve almost visited the bakery in his old neighborhood. A 5 1 fic take on other times. Episode related but IMO you don't have to have watched AA to read this fic.
The first time Steve almost paid a visit to Brubaker's Bakery, The Avengers had barely gotten back together. They had defeated Red Skull and MODOK two times, and stopped an invasion on Earth by the dark dimension aliens. They were mostly settled in, but nothing happened for a week and Tony told everyone to have a day off, which Steve gathered was mostly due to Hulk's and Thor's increasingly destructive ways to pass the uneventful time.

Steve decided to visit his old neighborhood. Usually he would've spent his free time in front of an easel, painting, but Tony obviously wanted all of them to "go get some fresh air," which meant leave him to work in peace for some time. It didn't bother Steve, it was high time to go check on Mrs. Cleary anyway. She was an old lady who lived in his neighborhood all her life, a little kid when Steve was about to go to war. They had reconnected and Steve visited her whenever he could. She was still pretty active for an 80-year-old and could talk his ears off, which was exactly what he needed sometimes.

He was on his way, walking along the old street preoccupied by his own thoughts when he saw it. Behind some vans, in a small alley a sign, with a simple script read "Brubaker's," with just the top of a stylized drawing of a bread loaf visible behind the vans. Steve didn't need to see the rest, a memory came to him instantaneously of Mr. and Mrs. Brubaker, who were always so nice to him, and his mom, giving them leftover loaves when they were tight with money. The memory of the few times he tasted Brubaker's apple tarts, fragrant and succulent, he could almost taste them at that moment, feel them melting in his mouth. And they were still here, he could have them right now, maybe get some for Mrs. Cleary too. He couldn't believe his luck. Right then the Avengers alarm sounded, and from pastry ponderings he was quickly dragged back to his Captain America role.

"We need you back at the tower, Cap," came Iron Man's voice through the comm, he sounded strained. "Some troll named Ulik attacked Thor and now he won't stop talking about impending doom and destiny and I don't know what else. We need you!"

And that was that as far as apple tarts were concerned.

Avengers duties kept Steve busy enough so that Brubaker's slipped his mind for quite some time. Next time he remembered was after one of the sparring sessions with Hulk. Going a few rounds with their smashing teammate always made him feel like he could eat a horse afterwards. And he did, in a way, he and Hulk ordered 18 extra large pizzas just for them. After they cleaned out the boxes, Hulk said he had just enough space in his stomach for a dessert, which in his case usually meant an entire chocolate cake. Luckily, Tony had a deal with a patisserie across the street. Hulk asked him if he wanted anything, but Steve was full. Hulk went on his merry way and Steve stayed and watched the TV, Grey's Anatomy marathon was on and he never missed those. He was enthralled with Meredith and Dr. McDreamy's relationship drama when Tony walked into the lounge.

"I see you and Hulk sparred today," he said eyeing the empty pizza boxes.

Other times Steve would've felt guilty for eating all the pizzas with Hulk and not leaving Tony one crumb, but not today, he deserved those pizzas. "Yup," he said simply.

Tony turned his gaze to the TV, and as Dr. McDreamy was in the middle of operating on a complicated brain tumor, he sat on the sofa, next to Steve, who knew what he was going to say before he even said it.

"Yes it's still on, and no I am not sick and tired of the repetitive plot and melodramatic twists that would put to shame the worst pulp romance writers of the 70s. Stow it. McDreamy is on the verge of another breakdown and you know what that does to his and Meredith's relationship."

"No I don't," Tony said, still there, now leisurely putting his feet on the coffee table. "Are they married yet?"

"Not technically, this is season 6. Now shut it." And to his surprise Tony did.

But it made Steve think. Weddings. He wondered if he'd ever marry, probably not, too busy for relationships let alone a marriage. It would be nice if he could participate in one of his teammates' weddings. Which made him think about wedding cakes each one of them would have. Tony would probably want a cake that assembles and reassembles like one of his suits. It was possible these days to have such a thing. They had all sorts of cakes in that one TV show Hulk watched, Cake Domination. For Steve, he'd want a simple tiered cake, traditional, you can never go wrong with tradition. That made him think about old times in Brooklyn, whenever someone got married in his neighbourhood, they'd commission Brubaker's to make a cake for them. Those were never big like today's cakes but judging from the few occasions he got to taste them, he was pretty sure none of the gigantic over-buttered fare of present day could compare. Steve jumped slightly off the sofa. Brubaker's! It's still in Brooklyn!

"He's going to be ok, Steve," Tony said, turning to Steve, sounding alarmed. "He only thinks he made a cut into the wrong lobe but he'll find that other tumor and the girl will be able to smell again."

"How do you..." But right then the alarm sounded. JARVIS notified them that there are unidentified objects entering Earth's atmosphere right above New York. A loud crashing sound at least 100 meters away sprung them into action. Wedding cakes and Brubaker's once again had to be put aside.

For a long time. A year passed before Steve had a chance to remember he once had a pastry preoccupation in his old neighbourhood. What with the Cabal and then Thanos, it was no surprise.

This time, Steve was on one of his cavalry training patrols. As he pretty much had free hand when it came to deciding on a route, it occurred to him to try and find the shortest one to Brooklyn on horseback. Once again he found himself just in front of the vans and the little alley. _Wow, so this bakery is still here_ , he thought. He was on the verge of tasting the phantom apple tart on his tongue once again when the sign flickered and went black. Together with all the other lights in the city.

He met Tony on the Brooklyn Bridge, and noticed how impressed he was with Steve's riding skills. Steve felt pride and a peculiar warmth deep in his stomach, something that recently happened more and more often, but he was too busy to look into it and prescribed it to an annoyance that had all to do with Tony's arrogance and general Starkness of everything he did. _Gosh_ , he thought, _even his hair is annoying, dark and shiny and made for running fingers through it..._ Tony's demand to pony express some broken rock pulled him back to reality. _He really is an annoying little overlord_ , Steve thought, making sure to show off his skill on Snowball some more, to put Mr. Technology back to his place. The little bakery in Brooklyn was once more forgotten.

Avengers defeated the Shadow Nixes from Vanaheim, and Thanos, but a new threat appeared, Ultron. By then Steve realized that all those warm feelings for Tony could be something entirely different from annoyance. He was just about to decide to explore what exactly they were when Tony went and put the team and the entire Earth to risk because of Arsenal, his dad's robot. Steve knew then what those feelings were, feelings of fear that Tony will cost them everything with his behaviour. He for one couldn't be a part of a team lead by such an untrustworthy leader. He quit and soon more than a half of the Avengers joined him. Before long he realized his mistake, Fury was ruthless with them, treated them all like pawns. Even so, Steve thought that with some had work, he could change the way SHIELD operated. At least when it came to his team, his Avengers. It was going well, until Fury ordered them to arrest Tony's team.

Steve hadn't seen Tony in a while, and he hadn't seen him that angry since... ever. Tony was usually on the mellow side. He was even angry when he jumped on Steve to save him from Ultronized Sam. A tiny part of him said "You missed him like crazy." Another tiny part said "As a friend, and you missed Thor and Hawkeye too." Both tiny voices disappeared as soon as all of them got embroiled in the fight with Ultron.

It was evident to Steve that he was out of his depth, all of them were. Ultron was just too strong, with the nano virus infecting innocent bystanders even more so. He knew the answer was Tony, it always was whenever the situation became impossible. Tony was their impossible guy, his impossible guy. But he didn't have time to reflect on that thought and what it meant, because Tony had just jumped in front of a train. Steve's instincts kicked in, he jumped after him and saved him from becoming an Iron Pancake. This earned him another angry look from Tony and more angry words were exchanged.

In search for Ultron, they went back to the Tower together, bickering on the way. Steve would lie if he said he didn't have an urge to hurl his flying motorcycle at Iron Man. Knowledge that he'd then have to be saved by him as he fell to the ground was the only thing that stopped him. Instead, he tried to reason with Tony once more, hoping that the belief he had in him colored his words. He succeeded, Tony was going to do the impossible, and he was probably not coming back. Steve felt cold sorrow in the pit of his stomach, he was going to lose Tony. Forever. He'll never get a chance to kiss him. However, a tiny thread of hope appeared and Steve promised himself that if Tony comes back, he was going to ask him out. Somewhere nice and quiet. Brubaker's Bakery came to his mind, maybe when he finally goes there again, Tony could go with him. Maybe there was still a chance for them to share an apple tart. Or an entire cake with Hulk. The thread burned away as quickly as it appeared when Fury asked him if he knew Tony's trip to Sun was one-way.

Steve of course, didn't ask Tony out. He rationalized his thoughts as crisis-induced, and his potential feelings as impossible, very likely just an extreme way his constant worry for Tony decided to manifest itself in that life-or-death situation.

After Ultron, Tony seemed to have changed a little, he was more receptive to advice, and he often encouraged Sam to take the lead, he seemed less overlord-like to Steve which made him feel glad. Both the team and Tony profited from this less world-on-his-shoulders Tony.

The days went on, once again Steve completely forgot about Brubaker's, what with Squadron Supreme trying to take over the world, and their short foray into space adventuring followed by another Thanos attack, followed by another Tony Stark Hail Mary. They had their hands full. Until they didn't. Until they defeated all of the major villains and Tony started to talk about disbanding the Avengers once more. Steve figured it was a reasonable course, after all, they all had enough to do as individual superheroes. So they parted ways - in a way. They'd meet up once a month, and not all of them would be present. Steve was happy Earth was safe from the big threats, and he did see most of them often enough, the team-ups with Sam and sometimes Widow and Hawkeye were frequent. Still, ever since they "half-disbanded" as Tony had put it, Steve felt like something was missing. That something often came into his dreams demanding things from Steve, mostly a cup of coffee which he would then look for but could never find. He missed Tony a lot. Calling him was not an option though, because he seemed busy as never before and didn't seem to miss Steve at all. Steve had come to this conclusion when he lingered after a monthly meeting a few times in hopes of talking to Tony face to face. Tony would always be the first one to leave, excusing himself with having to work on some new type of machinery or something like that every single time.

But when Ultron came back, all Steve's desires for more face-time with his teammates backfired. They were back on but this Scientist Supreme-absorbing Ultron was stronger than ever. Tony blamed himself for his reappearance, which made Steve feel even more guilty for wanting Avengers together like before. However, seeing how out of sync the team had become made those feelings take a back seat. Especially when he almost got Tony hurt. The important thing was that Ultron was back, Earth was in danger once more. Which meant Avengers _had_ to assemble once again.

It got pretty stuffy in the Tower pretty soon. So they all went out, while Tony and his sensors worked on catching Ultron again.

Steve found himself in his old neighbourhood, the familiar streets soothing his troubled mind somewhat. He was just thinking that it was too late in the evening to go visit Mrs. Cleary, who was still alive and well and as active as ever, when he saw a paper bag on which it said "Brubaker's Bakery". He knew where to go. This time Steve got close enough to smell the inviting pastries, even the apple tarts, when Ultron's copy of him attacked, leaving only one thought on his mind: he had to warn Tony, and other Avengers. Once again Brubaker's was left waiting for some less dangerous times. Maybe forever.

Next time he remembered the bakery, it was some months after the Ultimate versions of themselves. In the meantime, they had a run in with Thunderbolts, that kept them busy for a month. Afterwards, Ultron attacked them again, his attack was well planned, brutal and culminated with him taking over Tony's armor once again and making him fight each Avenger. Tony knocked all of them out before he stood in front of Steve, his Iron Man gauntlets already formed in fists.

"How does it feel to know you're going to be defeated by your best friend?" Ultron's voice asked behind Tony's helmet.

"I actually always wanted to put Iron Man back to his place," Steve tried to sound cocky.

Iron man was about to lunge when suddenly he stopped, the armor shut down, and from the inside Steve could hear Tony's voice saying: "FRIDAY, I think I've got him now, start the countdown as soon as I turn the 70% of suit back on! Goodbye Cap."

Steve knew what that meant, Tony was going to detonate his armor, and this time he planned to remain inside.

"Tony, no!" Steve yelled. But he knew it was too late, Tony had decided. Steve had a feeling of already being in this same place, but this time he was not afraid to at least try to say something about his feelings. As Iron Man's indicators flickered back on and FRIDAYS voice started counting down from ten, Steve hugged Iron Man tightly and said "Don't leave, Tony, please! Don't leave me!" But his hands were pried away and Iron Man flew out through a closed window, shattering glass all around Steve. In mere seconds he was far above New York, until all Steve could see was a dot and then a flash. He lost Tony forever.

Or that was what he thought for the five minutes he spent just sitting there on broken glass, watching the sky. Then the elevator pinged. Steve thought it was probably SHIELD, coming too late as always. He turned his head is if in a daze. It was not SHIELD. Coming out of the elevator, somewhat bruised but with a big smile on his face, was Tony Stark. Steve got up and flew to him, he grabbed his shoulders, they were solid, he was not dreaming or seeing ghosts. He pulled Tony into a hug, and said "How?" his voice barely a whisper.

"Friends in high places." Tony said enigmatically, then he hugged Steve back and they just stood there hugging until an annoying voice said from somewhere below: "Do I have a headache or what? Hey you two, get a room!" Hawkeye was awake.

"All of us need some medical attention," Steve said, extracting himself unwillingly from Tony.

"Yeah, I'll go prepare the Med Bay for six."

"No I'll go prepare the Med Bay," Steve said. "You too need some medical attention."

"You guys!" moaned Hawkeye.

"Odin's beard!" Thor yelled from somewhere further in the back.

They carried the three still unconscious Avengers to the Med Bay. Their wounds were nothing grave fortunately and soon they all came to.

Steve tried to find out about Tony's miraculous survival as he cleaned his wounds, mostly light scrapes, but the guy kept his mouth shut which really was something when it came to Tony.

Steve knew if he didn't ask him now, he would lose his nerve, but before he could form the words, Tony looked at him strangely and said: "Steve, I need to say something."

In a mere second Steve got a feeling that he had been found out and that Tony was going to let him down easy. He simply said "Yes?" while mustering a small smile.

"For some time I have..." Tony started, looking unsure. "What I want to say is: I think you..." He stopped and looked at Steve with those dark eyes of his and said "What the hell -" and pulled him down into a soft kiss. Steve was dumbfounded and just as he gathered his wits and started to return the kiss, Tony stopped.

"Yup." he said. "It's like that."

Steve, not at all happy with the way Tony ended their kiss, cupped his cheek, looked into his eyes and said "For me it's more like this -" he gently pressed his lips to Tony's in a chaste peck on the mouth, then took his lower lip in a soft kiss, which Tony deepened, placing his palms on Steve's shoulders, drawing him in. They kissed, unaware of their teammates until someone, Hawkeye very likely, shouted "When's the wedding!" followed by a loud thump, Steve hoped Natasha spared Clint's bow-drawing arm.

He smiled at Tony, who was glaring at Clint, and asked him: "Do you like apple tarts?"

Needless to say, Steve found himself in front of the Brubaker's Bakery once again the next day. He explained to Tony that he wanted to go there for a long time, but something would always prevent him, which made him think it was simply impossible for him to enter it and get those pastries he had been dreaming about for almost three years.

"That's where you come in, Tony," he said. "If you and I successfully start our first official date in this bakery, then everything is possible. And in case it's some kind of a portal to another dimension, or something like that, two Avengers are better than one," he added.

"Fine," Tony said. "But they better have donuts there too."

As it turned out they did. And the apple tarts were still delicious, so much so that, when Tony saw how much Steve was enjoying his, he abandoned his donuts and made Steve share them. "These are heavenly!" he said, licking some apple off his fingers. "We are never telling Hulk about this place!"

"What do I get in return?" Steve asked.

He got an apple tart-tasting kiss that somehow tasted even better than the pastries.

 **Notes:**

Other episodes referenced in this fic are: 1x04 - The Serpent of Doom, 1x06 - Hyperion, 2x11 - Downgraded (I took some licence with the plot of that one, because I had to have Steve on a horse) and 2x17 - Ultron Outbreak.


End file.
